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"Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen."-Theodore Roosevelt, 1917

"It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people."-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Isaona i tumungo’ ya ha sedi, ki ayo i mismo umisagui hao. Greater is the fault of he who allows the injustice upon himself. "-Chamorro proverb

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves." -Jose Rizal

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights." -Bishop Desmond Tutu

Disclaimer: This is not a legal blog. No opinion or statement should be perceived as legal advice. All posts are the opinion of the author or contributors who are expressing their First Amendment Rights.

Regarding the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino's inability to pay taxes including back taxes in totaling over $30 million, the Governor's Office and CNMI Rep. Ramon Basa issued some rather questionable statements.

Press Secretary Angel Demapan appeared to excuse the violation of nonpayment of taxes saying, “While the administration is cognizant that such an enormous debt can help solve our current cash-flow problems, we also recognize the fact that you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip."

He added, “It’s no myth that we are experiencing challenging times, thus, the administration seeks to explore innovative ways to assist businesses in meeting its obligations to the government.”

I have to wonder why this administration doesn't explore innovative ways to assist businesses in obligations to its employees' payroll. This administration knows that this irresponsible business has consistently failed to pay its foreign workers regularly and for each hour that they have worked. In fact, the Tinian Dynasty owed its nonresident workers weeks of pay. Both the CNMI and U.S. government agencies have been informed of this criminal violation for months, if not years, and yet no action has been taken. It is time to prosecute these employers and recover the money that they owe to the workers.

Rep. Ramon Basa (Covenant-Saipan) stated, “The government tries to promote a business-friendly environment, so that if businesses are struggling, we do our best to help.”

How about promoting a worker-friendly environment? No wonder the CNMI continues to have blatant labor abuses. These government officials appear to exclude the rights of the workers from the equation.

Your right it is an allegation. And allegations should at least be looked it. If it is not then you know the "game is fixed" So what's new here.The non-payment of taxes. What if all of the Saipan Hotels decided to just not pay any more taxes. What if the top 10 companies on Saipan just decided not to pay any more taxes? Do you still think the Press Secretary would say: "While the administration is cognizant that such an enormous debt can help solve our current cash-flow problems, we also recognize the fact that you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip."Yeah, some companies are just a little more protected than some. To big to fail? To politically important to fail? With the folks on Capitol Hill trying to get another non-productive Casino in here, this story must not come as good news. "Oh, this time it will work" Yeah, only for the seven or so commissioners that get to set on their fat behinds, do nothing, and collect 50K+ per year. It's good for them.Gambling is a blight on the community and should be totally and completely abolished in all forms.

Ten years ago, the Dynasty was claiming gross receipts of $10 million a month, when the casino and hotel were nearly empty. Hotels and casinos are easy to launder money through, because an empty hotel can appear to be full for bookkeeping purposes, just as an empty casino can conjure up phantom highrollers. The hotel and casino operators suddenly have "legitimate" income, as long as nobody does a thorough audit of their receivables.

Some months after Dynasty opened, they went to the Govt.(Saipan) and got permission to NOT pay their employees on time. This then set a precedence on Tinian with many other business.Prior to that some business were always "scrambling" to make payroll.Dynasty also did all of their CW contracts in Saipan and not in Tinan.

After the Govt allowed Dynasty to delay or only pay partial payroll many other companies started to do the same. Their comments were "Dynasty can do it so can we" Thus it has been so until today.This also went along with the taxes and other bills to vendors etc.Even with court ordered payment to vendors, many only got partial or nothing and the courts did not ever enforce their rulings.So go figure. BTW Dynasty was paying "local" wages at over $4.50 per hour then along with free meals.

I wonder how this works. Does a guy from China come in with a million dollars, but it all on black, lose it, go up to his room for some Pay-Per-view then go home the next day. Oh, he had a bad day at the table. The money is now revenue for hotel and clean and I guess not even taxed at this point. I don't know enough about how it works to figure it out.